The award-winning German TV journalist and Putin biographer Hubert Seipel is said to have received several hundred thousand euros from Russia and has so far hidden this from NDR, his book publisher and the public. A report from the news magazine Mirror According to Tuesday evening, this emerges from confidential documents from Cyprus – these are available to the magazine and ZDF and have been evaluated as part of an international research.
Accordingly, Seipel signed a “sponsorship contract” for a book project, originally called “Deed of Sponsorship,” which was very generously rewarded with 600,000 euros. “The author is writing a book about the political environment in the Russian Federation, to be published in 2019,” says the contract from March 2018. “The sponsor would like to support the development of the project and carry out this political and historical development to make the author’s support available to a wider audience.” In addition, Seipel was to receive “logistical and organizational support” during his research in Russia.
When asked, Seipel admits “support” from the oligarch
According to the contract, Seipel’s “sponsor”, his contractual partner, is a shell company called De Vere Worldwide Corporation, which is based in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. De Vere apparently belongs to the company network of the Russian oligarch and long-time major TUI shareholder Alexei Mordashov, whom the European Union sanctioned in February 2022 because of his proximity to Vladimir Putin. A handwritten note on the contract with Seipel also suggests that a similar agreement for a Putin biography already existed in 2013. Seipel is the first renowned Western journalist to be known to have been paid by Putin’s entourage.
Seipel, who interviewed Putin several times for NDR television, admitted “support” from Alexei Mordaschov when asked. However, the now sanctioned oligarch had no influence on the content of his books, said Seipel. In fact, the contract states that the author has no “obligations to the sponsor in relation to the project (whether with respect to the content or composition of the book or otherwise) or its completion.”
The biography “Putin. Inside Views of Power” was published in 2015. And then in 2021 “Putin’s power. Why Europe needs Russia”. Both books were published by Hoffmann and Campe, a renowned Hamburg book publisher. The publisher and also the NDR stated that they knew nothing about the payments and that they had the processes examined internally, also with a view to legal action. The ARD referred to the NDR statement and did not want to comment further, as did the Russian participants including Vladimir Putin.
“Cyprus Confidential” is an investigation initiated by SPIEGEL and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that uncovers questionable dealings in the EU country Cyprus. Around 270 journalists from 69 media companies were involved in the research, including SPIEGEL and ZDF Washington Postthe British Guardianthe Austrian default and Tamedia from Switzerland.